What a day!! – Salute, 2016, ExCeL, London

Well – That was quite a day! South London Warlords hosted Salute 2016 in London’s Docklands today, and it was packed. Loads of great displays from the wargamers, and oh so very many traders – Definitely not a good day to turn up with an empty wallet! I was attending as Chairman of my local gaming club, and we were running a participation game (based on Wacky Races!).

I’ve got to say, that all the gamers that joined us, or came to look and inquire about what we were doing were so friendly, well mannered and enthusiastic, it was a little exhilarating – such an incredible bunch!

With a wide range of traders, some were a little less subtle than others about what they sold….

Hawk Wargames were in attendance, with attention divided between their awesome ‘ordinary’ minis for Dropzone Commander and Dropfleet Commander, their scenery, and their ‘to scale’ for DZC UCM New Orleans Class orbital carrier, for it’s second Salute outing.

Of course, Halo Fleet Command was previewed for pre-order at Salute 2015, and the minis are stunning…

And Firestorm Armada still does well for Sci Fi space battles, while there are moves to make both it and Dystopian Wars faster to play.

Firestorm Planetfall looks pretty good, too.

But the star of the stand was Halo, Ground Command. All those Grunts, Elites, Spartans, Ghosts and Warthogs people are used to seeing on the big screen, but in the palm of your hand.

In the image above, the starter set basically contains all the figures, etc from the bunker down – And the figures are detailed, crisp and pretty much just as I’ve come to expect from Spartan. The rules seem interesting too, with Stat cards for each unit returning their ability to hit and damage Personnel, Vehicles or Aircraft. They also use a reaction mechanic to enable units to fight back when attacked, potentially even multiple times per turn. It looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Crooked Dice brought along 4 demo games of 7TV Second Edition – Faster, funner and better than ever! I’m a big fan of 7TV, a total antidote to the more straight-laced tabletop games, with a lot of irreverent humour, and a love of Sci Fi, Spy Fi and all sorts of other Cult TV.

There were some very well made and detailed exhibition games in place, with some very nice scenery.

Mechworld, from Germany, were in attendance with 3 stunning boards using the GZG Full Thrust rule set.

I was first attracted by their stunning board for their Battestar Galactica Blood and Steel scenario, which was hard to resist. But they had another board with some very interesting, yet familiar ships, also using Full Thrust. The LED underlighting was stunning. GZG and Mechworld were also unveiling the new Full Thrust starter box. I didn’t get one, but I have a feeling it’s on my pre-Christmas list!

Shattered Void, by White Dragon Miniatures, was also on display, along with some stunning starfighter miniatures. I must admit to being very excited for the Kickstarter – they’ve been working on this for a while already, and it shows!

I’ve probably missed far too many to mention, but it was quite a busy day. To all who attended, I hope your day was as great as mine. For those who didn’t, then come next year!!

I'm just this geek, you know? Love comics, though not a regular reader - Love gaming, PC, board games and wargaming, and reading Sci Fi.
Chairman at my local wargaming club, I play X-Wing and occasionally 40k (But mostly X-Wing!)
By day I work in eCommerce, by night I'm either still working, reading, watching or writing :)